Steelhead season is fast upon us in North East Ohio. Some steelhead have already been caught but no real runs to speak of (this can change at any moment it’s rained for most of 2 days and 3 nights and the river is a rising.)
So any who, in years past I have always used an olive wooly-bugger in which I believed to be a pattern for sculpin and have had no trouble using to catch steelhead. That being said I would like to try an actual sculpin pattern to give me something to tie on the vise or is it vice.
Again I digress and ask this. Is there a sculpin pattern that you have used in the past (don’t say wooly-bugger) that you have found to be successful. I have seen many patterns on line and in a few books but would like to know the pattern that has worked for you.
Like any fly tier I have liked a few of the patterns and would make my own twists but I would like to tie one first that has a proven track record.
I have to admit I haven’t used it for steelhead, but my favorite sculpin pattern for cutts is an Olive Whitlock’s Matuka Sculpin (Stewart and Allen’s ‘Flies for Trout’ has a nice pic of one).
Deer hair will sink if it gets soaked with water. A bit of wetting agent accelerates this.
I find that using set of lead eyes works even better, though, and use these on all my sculpin like patterns. These also allow me to get the hook point to ride upwards, something important on a fly that’s supposed to ride low in the water column.
My sculpin is real simple fly that’s built combining things from other successful patterns:
Hook: 4x ‘streamer’ type
Eyes: Lead dumbbell 1/4 shank back of eye
Tail: Semi Seal (or any long fibered dubbing you like)
Body: Semi Seal (again, whatever you have, not critical) in dubbing loop on last 2/3 of hook.
Wing: Rabbit strip (cut hide at hook point)
Collar: Stacked and spun deer
Head: Spun deer
My best ‘color’ for this has been purple, probably because it’s pretty and I fish it a lot, but all black, brown, olive, or combinations of these all work just fine. Don’t think that matters much.
No fancy name, just a good sturdy sculpin imitation that catches a lot of fish and can be tied quickly.
Adding a bead “egg” either on the hook or on the leader immediately in front of the fly is a good trick for big trout here. For years my favorite big trout fly for the Kenai River in October was a yellow marabou muddler in about size 2… Quick simple fly as muddlers go. Then the woolhead craze hit and I went with that for a long time. Now they have to be articulated and use rabbit strips.
LEHB, it’s definitely upon us! Soon as the streams drop they should be pretty loaded up. I like Dave Whitlocks sculpin but I haven’t tried it on the steelies.
I am going to tie up 3 different patterns…make that 4 (not giving up on my wooly-bugger) and see what produces more.
I like the looks of the Whitlock and I like to spin hair.
Side note on my olive deer hair, the cat took it off my desk and my father-n-laws
dog (May he rest in peace (my father-n-law not the dog) did a real number on it. I still have enough I can use but
what a mess.
I also like the wool head and picked up some olive wool to make some up.
The 3rd pattern is going to be for a smaller sculpin pattern made of pine squirrel.
I have never used a sculpin pattern for steelhead but got it as a tip from an Orvis rep at a steelhead expo. I tie for some of the guys I fish with who wanted to give it a try. It looks like I will miss the fall run this year but didn’t want the season to go by without doing something related to fly-fishing.
If it is a successful pattern I will tie the articulated one (which is a big pattern) and see what I can hook up with. I don’t believe I will tie what’s easiest or fastest I will go with production then tweek it till it no longer looks like a sculpin and resembles a squirrel drowning.
